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Saturday, January 17, 2015

Liquid latex comparison

Hey ladies! By now, you might have caught on to this big nail trend called liquid latex. It's awesome! Apply it around your nail, let it dry, make as big as a mess as you want and then to clean up, you just pull it off with one fell swoop! But where to get it? Which brands are good? How much does it cost? Click to find out!

STOP RIGHT HERE! First, find out if you're allergic to latex! You can get some nasty reactions from this stuff if you're allergic. If you're one of the unlucky ones, skip to the end and I'll have some alternatives for you, because everybody deserves easy cleanup :D

Make sure never to apply liquid latex to a spot with hair, because ouchie when you pull it off!! And don't let the polish dry before pulling off the latex, just remove it as quickly as possible like you would with nail vinyls or striping tape. I've found it works best to get clean lines and not accidentally rip off your 'good' polish in the process.

Maybe the most talked about brand is Liquid Palisade from Kiesque. I know it's the first one I saw pass by my Instagram screen!

Liquid Palisade has a cute pinkish purple color, very fitting for us lady-folk. It dries super quickly and pretty clear (which sometimes leads me to over-apply because I think I've missed a spot). When you accidentally get some on the nail where you don't want it, just wait for it to dry and gently push it back. Also, I saw a sparkle in the dried latex! I know that doesn't mean jack because you're gonna remove it anyways, but hey! Pretty!

It has a thin brush that is great for making small lines, for example close to the cuticle or when doing cool cool nail art like I did for New Year's. But it's super inconvenient when I want to cover up a bigger area, like for water marbling or making a gradient. In those cases, a wide polish brush would come in handy. Also, when I set the bottle upright to apply the latex, it feels wobbly.

It's great stuff, but at $22 a bottle (which is 10ml), there HAS to be something better!

You asked for something better? Enter: Liquid Painters Tape by Lucky 7 Boutique. There is some room for improvement when it comes to packaging, but it's pretty much the same stuff, except for the color, brand, and most importantly, price. A 10ml bottle (so the same size as Liquid Palisade) sells for $7,99 and there's also a cute little mini size (5ml) for $3,99.

It has the same skinny brush, but one thing that bothered me was a black rubber cap on the inside of the bottle. It serves a purpose, it keeps the brush from flooding but it also makes it hard to get the brush in or out. I took out the rubber cap, cut off a a piece and then placed it back. That made it so much easier!

All kinds of liquid latex have a tendency to uh... stick. I work one hand at a time, because one time I applied liquid latex on both hands simultaneously and all my fingers started to stick together where the latex touched! It's not sticky per se, unless it touches something smooth (like the cap of a polish bottle) or another patch of latex. Prying it apart will just make the latex detach so you'd have to reapply it.

Brandless liquid latex

The cheapest option by far is latex body paint, grimer's latex or liquid masking tape (for water color painting). You can find it at party supply stores, costume shops, adult stores apparently, and paint supply stores. My bottle was leftover from a Halloween zombie party, but it's a 100ml bottle and the price tag says €10,50, so that works out to €1,05 per 10ml.

I poured this stuff into a clean polish bottle, which gives me a wide brush to play with! My cheap version smells weird and the dried latex rips more easily than the purple versions, but it works and I kinda like that it's colorless!

Apparently, Ellagee Polish had the same feeling as I did and came up with a blue version in a regular polish bottle, which makes it super easy to apply! I haven't had the chance to try it yet, but it's called Lickety Split Latex Mani Mask and it goes for $3,50 per 15ml, is that a deal or what?!

Now for my poor latex allergic friends! I've tried cleanup with PVA glue (I always use that stuff as a peel off base coat anyways) and it worked really well! I applied a thick coat and that made it so much easier to remove. It did take what seemed like ages to dry, but it did the trick!

You can also do what I used to do before I had liquid latex, which is use medical tape. I found out that the kind meant for sensitive skin is really pliable, so it can get right in that little fold between the nail and the skin.

That's all I know, for now at least! New cool things are popping up every day :D I hope this helped! If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to let me know!

Music is "Disco Con Tutti" by Kevin MacLeod
Available on http://incompetech.com

I received the Lucky 7 Boutique bottle of latex as a press sample for an honest review and the Liquid Palisade to make nail art with. Opinions expressed are 100% my own and not influenced in any way other than the quality of the product itself.